Locust Valley kids donate more than 1,000 gifts to charity

Just a few days before the start of their Christmas vacations, students at Locust Valley Middle School faced a table full of toys at their disposal.

They paced down the line, pointing out the ones they liked and trading opinions with friends. But instead of selecting anything for themselves, they boxed them all up and gave them away.

In fact, some offered up more.

A small boy in the crowd of students raised his hand shyly.

“What if we have more toys to give?” sixth-grader Alim Merchant asked. “I have so many more toys, but I forgot to bring them in.”

The donations were for the Matthew Fetzer Foundation, a nonprofit founded in 2005 by Ann and Bill Fetzer, of Bayville, after their son Matthew died of leukemia when he was 10.

Ann Fetzer, 50, said her son was diagnosed when he was 3 and spent most of his short life in and out of hospitals. It was his dream to help other sick children one day.

“When he died, there was no question in our minds that we were going to do this for him,” she said.

The Fetzers collect toys and donations throughout the year and distribute them and throw parties at the three hospitals where Matthew was treated, Winthrop-University Hospital, NewYork-Presbyterian and the Cohen Children’s Hospital at North Shore LIJ.

“It’s very expensive to have a sick child,” Ann Fetzer said. “So it is so special for the children and their families to receive things like this.”

The entire Locust Valley Central School District collects toys for the Fetzers every year, each school running its own. Ann Fetzer said she asks the children in each school to bring gifts they would like themselves so there are toys for each age group. The foundation receives more than 1,000 items from the district each year.

William Finke, 12, of Bayville, said his family and the Fetzers are longtime friends so he has a special connection to the toy drive and also helps raise money for the foundation at other times of the year.

He said he felt good about the toy drive because it would help children who couldn’t leave the hospital for the holidays, and it helped raise awareness among his peers.

“It will teach them that this happens all over the world,” he said. “Everyone is not rich and healthy.”